This invention relates to a guidance system for agricultural equipment and more particularly to a sensing apparatus for the guidance system.
Various agricultural machines utilize plant sensing wands mounted on the machine for sensing the position of the standing plants for various purposes. Typically, this sensing is for guidance purposes to provide a feedback signal to a machine guidance or positioning mechanism to assure proper positioning of the machine relative to a row of such plants. By way of example, such sensors and guidance systems may be utilized on cultivating equipment.
The sensing wands are affixed to a rotatable shaft. The shaft and wand may be biased to a predetermined angular position. As the wands contact the crop, its angular position is adjusted whereby the angular position of the shaft reflects the sensed position of the crop relative to the machine.
The adjustment of the angular position provides an electronic signal to the guidance control system which provides output for corrective action to the guidance mechanism. The guidance mechanism will adjust the movement of the implement or its relative components to affect lateral adjustment thereof and thereby also will move the sensing wands relative to the crops.
However, these guidance systems are limited because the sensing assembly requires a standing row of plants to provide a reference for the wand sensors. It would be advantageous if the farmer could use the guidance system to perform an agricultural procedure when the field does not have standing rows of plants. For example, it would be advantageous if the farmer could use the guidance system during the planting process. By using a guidance system during the planting process, the guidance system would assure that each set of rows would be straight and parallel to the adjacent set of rows to prevent the crowding of the crop rows. By preventing the crowding of crop rows, the farmer will be able to achieve higher crop yields and reduce damage or loss to the crop during the cultivating and harvesting processes. Therefore, there is a need for a guidance system which can be used when the field does not have standing rows of plants.
In addition, there are other devices which follow a valley or a marker furrow and these devices do not require a standing row of plants. However, these devices accumulate or plug with crop residues. Specifically, the crop residues become engaged on portions of the device. The crop residues which accumulate on the device cause the device to be lifted or raised from the valley or marker row. Consequently, the device is not able to properly perform its guidance function. Therefore, there is a need for a guidance system which will not accumulate or plug with crop residues. The present invention is less likely to accumulate or plug with crop residues as compared with the other devices. Furthermore, these devices utilize several components and are expensive to manufacture. The present invention is rugged, utilizes a minimum number of components and is economical to manufacture.